the story behind the legend of the seven maori canoes and the descending maori chieffchiefs by vernice pere the migration legend of the coming of the maori to new zealand grandfather whatongaWhatonga also made it to new zealand where he was reunited in a great fleet of seven voyaging canoes has its origin in ancient with his grandfather and both men settled there permanently inter chants As in other claims laid against oral historical evidence the tarryingmarrying with the tangatatrangata hhenuawhenua legend has its detractors some refute the idea 0off a migratoryemigratory fleet the great fleet legend persists today and tribes still trace their of canoes usually laying claim to descent froafromaroa an earlier single lineage to crew members of certain canoes in the fleet the legend voyage that establishes their older history in the new land and hence dates this major migration at 1350 JUAD it is thought that conflict arlierearlier claim to land titles in hawaikiprawaiki promptedted the exodus for theubausa purpose of colonizing kupes upe is named as the maori discoverer of new zealand in about known land far to the south these clocanoes wrwerewazewarm gilwllnellnelivell fcockdstacked vitawitawith pre-pro- thethath riddlekiddlemiddlemiddie of the tenth century I11 behe returned to HaKawaiki the ancestral visions for the voyage and also with foods for cultivation in the home of the maori thought to be raiateaRaiatea in tahiti but described only as MMW land songs chants and ancient poetry record the names of these central polynesia by te rangi hiroo the famous maori anthropologist canoes buck points out however thatthadthat22 be relates that kupes sailing direction in the lunar month of november the fame of particular canoes depends upon whether not they harehavehayehage been recorded in song and 2 or december was a little to the left of the setting sun and that tozytorystoryatoryetoryby bards and historians A continuity of do- minant chiefs and supporters is further required to flofrompro various traditions there is little doubt bring the record down to modern times 4 that subsequent voyages were made on these sail- ing direction that were handed down orally in poly- the seven canoes named in most chants as comprising the great nesia 0 3S heelneelfleetneet aresores tainui te arawa hataatnaHatamataatuamataetnaatnakomarutokomaruTotoyomaruTokoaarumaru takitioutakitimutakitumuTakitioucloutimulimu kurahaupo buck further suggests that voyagervoyagers blown offcourseoff course by stbrsabrstormsa andaoteaand Aotea in many respects the isformationinformation we have today derived from eventuallyev ntually reached new zealand and became the tangatatangafcatrangata whenua feorepeople the oral traditions is very specific the tainui canoe under the of the land then in the twelfth century legend has it that ihatongatmhatongawhaMhatonga leadership of hoturoaHoturoa prepared to sail frocfroin havaikihawaiki on the brongoorongo the grandson of toi became lost in a storm while participating in a night 27th of the lunar month respondingcorrespondingcaecaccoe to october november but canoe race in central polynesia his grandfather sailing south to the old benmen advised hotureahoturoa to delay sailing until the stormy tamateas search for him landed at what is now called the baydayof plenty in new ath6th to ath9th nights of the following months had passed hoturoa replied zealand and settled there in the mcainmeantimetime whatongaWha tonga arrived safely home 1011I wilwillwll sail out now and meet the tamateas anon the open sea he surmountsurmoun having found shelter for a period of tinetimeulms on yet another polynesian a odd all storms and trials to make safe landfall at cape runaway S3 island he then provisioned his canoe and sailed south in search of his an interesting point here is thatshatchalchatghat legend further documentdocuments the 4 3 tama occupy arrival in fewlewnew zealand as being a season when the naiivenativenative pohutukawa the descendants of te kapua the coastal and thermal lands verevezewereweze in bloom their scarlet flowers cover the large trees and make around rotorua while those of ngatokcarangiifgatoroirangi became the twharetoatuwharetoa peo- their appearance in november or december the story goes that as the ple of the lake taupo area the matatua was captained by toroa and sail- canoes approached the new land one of the chiefs saithesawthesaw the brilliant ed upriver in the bay of plenty to beach on the shore toroastoroalscoroas daughter zzed of the trees and took off his head ornament of red feathers a was ill and she lay anon the beach near the canoe to rest while the crew prized polynesian symbol of leadership to throw it into the sea saying explored inland As the day passed the tide rose and the canoe began that the chiefly red of havaikihawaiki is cast aside for the chiefly red of to float away the woman saying to herself 1 I must act like a narmarman the new land hence we can reckon the sailing timegimegimato have heenbeenheon about exerted all her strength and marieedmarimar&rjedmarueedwed to save the canocanoefromcanoeefromfrontron floating four to six weeks fxfrom havaikihawaiki to ao tea boaroa new zealand svayavayswayoayray to this day that river Isasxs called whakatane actact likeilkea manroanmoarnman and soaesome events surrounding the story of the voyage are known today the descendants of this canoe spreads rea frofrom capscape Rinrunawayaway to whakatanewhakacane KV one lelitellleiltellsleiis ofofttaroaama te kapua the chief of the to arawa canoe kidnapped and inland over the rugged Jrejreweraureveragreverawera country the priest of the tainui canoe forcing hiahlahim to sail with to arawa mis the kurahaupo went north and its people settled north auckland behavior between tamatanoatamma te kapua and the priests wife further enraged the and later taranskiTaranaki and an area between wanganuiWanganui and lake horowhenuahoro benuahenua priest andend he summoned a storm which almost sank the to arawa the tainui the ThTokomaru captained by maraiamanaia navigated by thetho priest rakeioraRakeiora ageagamademadaade landfall before the te arawa and the two crews went separate wanwayways ailedsailed around north cape and beached at the mohakatinoMohakatino river in north 0 the tainui salicselic south from whangaparaoaangaparaoa to the taranskitaranakiTaranaki the people spread frontroatronfrom the lokaumokau river to south of todays tamaki strait just outside auckland the crew me- mbers went ashore to pioreexploreex and found that only a city of new plymouth takitimutakitumuTaki timu captained by tamatea landed on the narrow isthmus separated themfron from another harbourharbhaub ouri which they named the manukaumanutauplanukauManukau they hauled the tainui east coast of the northkorth island and its people are the gisborne tribes across the isthmus and sailed down the west coast to kashiakawhia where they finally settled their descend- today the aotea canoe is said to have left the ancestral homeland in ants spread out and became the waikato people occupy- ing a large section of the north island from south an offseasonoff season and was driven west to the keekenaadeckermadecKermadec islands where the crew auckland to to kultikuitihanshanyraayranymany generations later when to 1 rauparaha led a joint expedition of agativqatikgati toa and agatingati gathered karaka berries which they later carried to new zealand the raukawabaukawa warriors south in the 1320s1920s tainui descendants onschonfchmonth march the kennadecskermadecs when ehonha carynocarpuscorynocarpus were established6established in the southern part of the northkorthworth of in is thethoeha karaka lae island as well 6 vigatamigata is ripe landllandinglandijigLandijig on the west coast of the northborthisland thaytheythoy covedmoved toeeevee arawa landed at cape runaway turned up the coast and landed inland to vanganuiVangwanganuiWanganuianulthe damesnanesnames of the canoe captain and the steering passengers at haketumaketamaketu near taurangaTauranqa hereuponwhereupon they spread inland itilsitslla pamiepawlepaddlepaggie are recorded in chant translated by jamesjawescowan as follows tainui lines from hoturoahoturoatHoturoa tbthathepaddle songsonyof theth aotoaaoteacanacanom hamlin 20 generations to rothmarotumahotuxoa aoteaisacteaAotea is the canoe turi Is the chief ugaporamgapora composite to roku o whitl is the paddle 23 generations behold my paddiepaddle toT rangihaeata it is laid by the canoe side 1727generations to hoturoa now it is raised on high the paddle 1828generations to rothmahoturoarotuma poised for the plunge the paddlepaddiepaddlespaddies IS25 generations to tamcekapuatamacefcapua now wew leap forward xvikauxwikau behold my paddlepaddieto roku o whitiuhitilwhitil I1 34 generation s ago to hoturoanoturoa which is too long see how it flies and flashes it quivers like a birds wing lkinsonwilkinsoni this paddle of eineoinemine 20 generations to haturvahoturoa ah the outward lift and the dashing taaaaucutamamutuTamamutumucu the quick thrust in and the backward veepweepsweep 2618 generations to kgatoroiranginqatoroirangi and puhikaiariki the swishing the swirling eddieseddles foamingroamingwhite wake and spray names was the 7the the reuheuheuheu genealogy obviously contains extra and perhaps that flies from my paddle not correctly understood by grey the others vary from about twentythreetwenty three to seventeen generations other genealogies show a fair agreement on aboutaaoutaagut other canoes are mentioned in other chants one being the